Tabac woes

Boab

Boab

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LeJog 2022 Finisher
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I gave my new Tabac stick (from Ollie) last night.Face lathered and found the richness bursting from the brush within a few seconds.The smell wasn't so bad when lathering and I could have probably put up with it as the soap worked well.Close shave with cushioning lather, what's not to like? Well as I rinsed after the first pass I could feel a tingle under my neck where I am most sensitive to certain products.I finished the second pass and got the alum out after leaving the alum for a few seconds I had to rinse as the tingle was now an itch.Proraso pre/post followed as a soother but my face still felt like I had lather on it, a most unusual sensation.In the end I had to go and wash my face and put some Liz Earle A/S balm on to calm it down.I am still itchy under my chin this morning and have a couple of breakouts.I had a similar,although milder, reaction to the palmolive stick and I am now interested to compare the product ingredients of both in order to narrow down the culprit.
 
Palmolive stick: Potassium Hydrogenated Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Cocoate, Aqua, Glycerin, Parfum, Olea Europaea, Elaeis Guineensis, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, BHT, Buytlphenyl Methypropional, Citronellol, Coumarin, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde, Limonene, Linalool, CI11680, CI12490, CI74260, CI77891


Tabac stick: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Cocoate, Aqua, Glycerin, Parfum, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Tetrasodium EDTA, CI77891
 
Most likely, it's the perfume in the soap. Tabac is amongst the most strongly scented soaps I know.

More or less the same thing happened to me with Woods of Windsor soap this morning. Very strange, never had a reaction before. MWF tomorrow morning for me.
 
Interesting, especially since the Tabac ingredients list is shorter than that for Palmolive, and doesn't list any obvious suspects. Note that Tabac only lists 'perfume', whereas Palmolive lists certain individual substances -- this is because you only have to list the individual chemical substances in you perfumes if and when they are recognized allergens AND are present above a certain level. Meaning that it is not very likely, although certainly not impossible, that your reaction to Tabac was because of the perfume content.

The chelators (etidronate, edta) can, in theory, be irritating, but I don't think effects of these ingredients in the concentrations relevant here have ever been described.

Note that ingredients lists are not the be all and end all. Some lists are known to be wrong (sometimes even willfully so (take a look at the Trumpers skin food label -- which simply can't be right), and they don't have to list impurities and other additives in the actual ingredients. Formally, ingredients have to be of certified cosmetic grade, but it is not entirely impossible that every once in a great while, a batch of tallow, hydroxide, or edta contains something that shouldn't be in there.

That having been said, the most likely candidate, IMNSHO, is the cocoate part of the fatty acid composition. Coconut oil contains a high percentage of lauric acid and myristic acid, C12 and C14 saturated fatty acids. Short chain fatty acids are good cleansers, but also harsh, since they are very effective in removing the natural fats and oils (mainly sebum) from you skin. If and when your skin is already challenged (by whatever means or reason), 'washing' it with a soap that contains coconut fatty acids may just be irritating, even when it isn't normally...

Cheers

Henk
 
Very interesting
I will keep a note of this topic and refer back with my other soap ingredients.
Anything in there that is also in your soap Henk? I had no problems when using yours.
 
Well, mine has no stearate (which will most likely not be the culprit; actually, that is not true; mine has no ADDED stearate, but the tallow of course contributes it), no lauric acid (I don't use coconut oil, none of the other oils have lauric acid -- they do have a minor fraction of myristic acid), and no etidronate or edta (yet). My guess (and it is no more than a guess) remains that it is most likely the lauric acid content of your Tabac. Am I right in thinking that the Tabac cake/bowl/container soap does not contain coconut acids?

Cheers

Henk
 
Tabac soap: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Sodium Tallowate, Parfum, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, CI77891, Limonene, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Coumarin, Alpha-isomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Salicylate, Geraniol, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Isoeugenol, Benzyl Alcohol, Citral, Eugenol.

May as well do the MWF before someone asks about that.

Mitchell's Wool Fat: Sodium Tallowate, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Potassium Cocoate, Glycerin, Parfum, Alpha-Isomethly Ionone, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Lanolin, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Gluconate, Sodium Silicate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Magnesium Sulphate, Tetrasodium Etidronate.
 
Are you getting these from the products?
This might be worthy of a wiki section ;)
 
Yup - just reaching in to my soap stash and typing out the ingredient lists...

Irisch Moos Stick: Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Parfum, Stearic Acid, Linalool, Potassium Hydroxide, Eugenol, Coumarin, Butylphenyl Methlpropional, Citronellol, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Limonene, Benzyl Benzoate, Geraniol, Cinnamal, CI77891.
 
Boab, sorry to hear that; I feel responsible for your rash.

I use Tabac most days and love it.

Interesting the refills have a different ingredients list than the full sticks.

Tabac Stick:

Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Sodium Tallowate, Parfum, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, CI 77891, Limonene, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Courmarin, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Geraniol, Evernia Prunastri (Oakmoss) Extract, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Isoeugenol, Benzyl Salicylate, Benzyl Alcohol, Eugenol, Citral, Evernia Furfuracea (Treemoss) Extract.

Tabac Refill:

Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Cocoate, Aqua, Glycerin, Parfum, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Tetrasodium EDTA, CI 77891

That's quite a difference. No idea why but noticed it when I got the job lot in last week.

(PS Ingredient info all available here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4780">http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4780</a><!-- m -->)
 
Its not a rash more of an itch but the liz earle A/S is soothing it away as we speak.
No coconut in the cade then, maybe thats what is causing it but I reckon it will be much too difficult to track down the exact cause.Interesting thread all the same.
 
I have had issues in the past when face lathering, and pretty much put it down to almost raw soap being applied to my face. I also experienced this with some creams. As a result of this, I rarely face lather these day and build a lather in my palm instead.

Just a thought.

Ian
 
Yeah I thought about that but other sticks haven't caused the problem.I also tried palmolive by applying it to the brush.
 
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